GENOVA, September 9, 2016

The quarterfinals are set at the 14th edition of the €106,500 AON Open Challenger, held at the Stadio Beppe Croce in Genova. Kenny de Schepper, champion of last week’s Città di Como, won his seventh consecutive match beating Roberto Carballés Baena 6-4, 6-4.

The 29-year-old Frenchman sent down six aces and broke the Spaniard’s serve five times to secure victory in exactly two hours of play. De Schepper will next play the tournament’s number seven Adam Pavlasek, who defaeted Marco Cecchinato 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 to prevent a new edition of the Como title in Genova’s stage of the final eight.

Jerzy Janowicz took out the second favourite Horacio Zeballos, winning 7-5, 6-4. The 25-year-old from Poland saved all eight break points he faced, converting two of his own to advance in one hour and 38 minutes. Janowicz will next play Gianluca Mager. The Italian qualifier upset fifth seed Teymuraz Gabashvili with a 6-4, 6-3 victory in 75 minutes.

Jozef Kovalik edged past Andrea Arnaboldi 7-5, 7-6 to set a quarterfinals meeting with third seed Carlos Berlocq. The world number 76 from Argentina defeated Adrian Ungur 7-5, 6-0 in 75 minutes.

The tournament’s number one Nicolas Almagro set a battle of the wild cards with a 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 late night win over Laslo Djere. The 31-year-old from Spain will take on sixth seed Denis Istomin next. The world number 107 from Uzbekistan benefited from the retirement of Danilo Petrovic, leading 4-6, 6-3, 3-0. The Serbian qualifier suffered from lower back pain.